Method of producing sugar.



LOUIS GATHMANN, or wasnmd'ron, onn'rmmn ,gnnnw YORK,

mszrnjroror COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR T GUANICA N. Y., A CORPORATION or NEWJERSEY.

METHOD OF PRODUCING SUGAR.

No Drawing.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 21, 1911. Serial No. 609,999.

Patented July 29, 1913.

To all whom, it may concern Be it known that I, Louis GATHMANN, a

,citizen of the *Unite'd Staten-residing at Washington, in the Districtof Golumbia,

have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in the Method ofProducing Sugar, of which the following is a full, v clear, and exactspecification.

The invention which forms the subject matter of this application relatesto a new and useful method for producing sugar pri- .marily designed forthe treatment of cane and sugar beets, although applicable to such othermaterials as may possess similar properties and be susceptible ofresponding to "-the'same process.

Under the conditions heretofore obtainingiin this industry, the activeoperations of raw sugar factories or mills are practi cally confined tothe season during which the cuttingof the cane is feasible, from whichit results that such mills, so-far as the grinding of cane is concerned,are partly or entirely idle for perhaps onehalf of each year, whiletheir capacity may be'overtaxed during the other.- l The primary objectof my present invention is to obviate'this objection by making properprovision for the continued operation of raw sugar factories, andthereby not only to distribute the work more uniformly throughout theyear, but to verymaterially increase the efiiciency and capacity ofexisting plants.

The improvements I have made secure other and important incidentaladvantages,

some obviously resulting from thenovel procedure which I have devised,and 0t ers which 'I have discovered to 'result adopted y .me 'incarrying'out the objects in view.

- l The following statement of the processes heretofore followed andofthe novel steps introduced by me will serve to convey a clearunderstanding of the nature and purposesj my invention and the advantages secured The plan generally followed in the extraction of thejuice from cane, is toexpress the traction of the juice or recovery ofsucrose from the cane is carried out as completely as considerations ofeconomy and efficiency permit, by what may be regarded as a single orcontinuous process, and the bagasse used for fuel or converted to otheruses not directly concerned with the production of sugar. According tomy invention,.h6w: ever, I extract, by the use of shredders or crushersand mills, a certain percentage only of the juice usually recovered fromthe cane, thus reducing the amount of liquid in the "cane toapproximately fifty per cent. of the original amount byweight. -Thejuice expressed or recovered is then treated according to the present orany approved methods for the recovery therefrom of crystallized sugar.The cane residue passing from the mills and containing the residualsugar is then subjected to a preservative process, preferably andchiefly by drying, and suitably treated to permit its being convenientlyhandled, stored and indefinitely preserved. Preferably, it is dried andbaled or compressed,in which formit is most economi cally stored untilsuch time, after the canec-utting season, as it may be convenientlytreated for the extraction of-the remaining sugar either by the millingor by the difi'u sion process. It is well known thatcane, after a largepercentage of 'the liquid constituents have been eliminated in thisbecomes so friable that it may be reduced,

with little difficulty to a coarse powder. It

is also known that drying under known temperatures results in thecoagulation of the .albuminoids in the cane, wvhich renders them, aswell as certainwaxy, gummy and coloring matters more or less insoluble,particularlyin cold water, andallows the sucr'ose. tocrystallize. inwhich state it is readilv soluble even in cold water.

ing dried, as above described, is not only in condition to be baledtransported, .and-

stored *for an indefinite period without de- It will, there fore, beseen that the cane residue, after be-' terioration,but is actuallyin avery desir-v 2 able conditionfor treatment by'either the milling ordiffusion process at any time be-- tween the cane cutting seasons, whenthe capacity of the factories is not so severely taxed.

'- If desired, the cane residue eit-her before or after drying m'av bereducedta any deof comminution by machinery suitable yell known for suchpurposes. Although such treatment may not be-desirable, except when thedried residue is to be subjet-ted to the diffusion process. p it is ob'\ions that when only fifty to sixty per cent. of the juice is primarilyextracted from the cane a larger quantity can be putthrough mills of agiven capacity, perhaps double the amount that could be passed throughthe mills in the same time when the. extraction of the whole proportionof available juice is attempted. The same holds true in regard to thedried cane residue; that is to say, twice the usual amount can beprofitably passed tln'ougheither the mills or the (llllllr-ltillbatteries. it being understood, of

course, that in the former case the residue is thoroughly saturated withwater While undergoing the milling treatment.

' A very important feature of this invention, which materially reducesthe cost of known processes, is the fact that the quantity of the juiceexpressed from the cane in the first step of the process, is in a higherstate of purity, and in a more concentrated form. than where the entirequantity of the uices is extracted from the cane in the usual millingprocess. The purity results from the fact that a very large proportionof the albuminoids and associated impurities remains in the caneresidue; it is more concentrated because no water has been added, as isusually done in roller presses, to facilitate-the ex traction of thesucrose in i the juice. As stated above, the drying of the partiallyexpressed cane, because of the coagulation of the albuminoids andsolidification of the gummy and waxy matters, decreases the solventeffect of water for these substances. It

'will, therefore, be observed that the defecation and subsequenttreatment of the juices are quite simplified, both with respect to thejuice expressed in the first step of the process and the juice extractedfrom the cane residue.

It will be seen from the above that the process of evaporation of canejuice may, by this means, he continued throughout the year on aneflicient and economical scale. This results largely from the fact thatabout fifty to sixty per cent. of the total amount of juice in the caneis extracted in the first, and the equivalent of' the remainder, inWater and sucrose, in the last step of the process. It is to heunderstood, however, that the invention is not limited to the extractionof this precise proportion of the'total amount of juice from the canebefore drying the residue. This specified proportion of extraction ispreferable because it is found that the evaporating apparatus, whendouble the amount of cane is passed through the present mills, canreadily take care of this quantity of juice. It will be evident,however,

therefrom. This is invariably done in those factories in which thediffusion process is practised. It has also been proposed to shred orslice both cane and sugar beets and dry thesame before subjecting themto the processes for recovering the sucrose, and it has also beenproposed to subject bagasse containing a certain proportion of sucroseto special and further treatment for the recovery of this sucrose fromthe same. My process, however, differsfrom all. or any combination ofthese processes and is dis tinctive in Riga bout one-half of the juiceis extracted from the cane in the first step and immediately treated,while the cane residue is then dried, and baled, stored or otherwise")reserved in convenient form to be subsel quently treated for theextraction of the remaining sucrose thbrefrom. This process, so far as Iam aware, is distinctly new andresults in great economy. An importantadvantage results also from primarily expressing a substantialproportion of the juice and then drying the cane, inasmuch as themoisture expressed from the cane does not have to be eliminated in thedrying process for the preservation of the cane residue. Moreover, asexplained above, a larger total percentage of sucrose can be obtainedfrom the cane by this process. liVhere about ninety five per cent. onlycould be obtained heretofore by the millingprocgss, an additional twoper cent. or more may be recovered by my improved process, particularlyso when the cane residue is subjected to the diffusion process. I

It is understood by those skilled iii the art that sugar cane or beetpulp czinnot be dried on a large or commercial scale without somedeterioration. My invention therefore has also for its object toeliminate the cause for this loss as much as possible by deoxidizin theair to a certain extent which is used for the drying medium. This is tosay, by removing the oxygen as nearly as practicable which is containedin the air by causing the same-to flow preferably through a fire orfurnace by which the oxygen combines withthe carbon and is thuseliminated. It is also advisable to pass the said air or gases from thefurnace through a dust catcher in order that the free carbon and cindersmay be eliminated or segregated before the gas comes into contact withthe sugar pulp. The final residue of the cane may be used for fuel, ormaterial for paper pulp, or any other known purpose.

I claim:

1. The method of increasing the working l ri at and ili w, l r n hasbeen partly removed, and subsennrntl c extracting sugar from the driednu; l. h The method of manufacturing sugar which consis s in reducingthe beet or cane to pulp. separating a' portion of the Water or fluidl'roiu the pulp, extracting the sugar from this; l'luid. drying the pulpwith a tic-oxidized medium as nearly as practicable, and then extractingsugar from the dried pulp h saturation and diffusion.

I). in the method of manufacturing sugar which cousixts in reducing thesugar beet or cane to pulp, separating a portion of ll f. fluid fromthat pulp, extracting the .-.1:;3-ni i-mu the Fluid, dehydrating thepulp or prawnanion. subsequently extracting the m nr from the pulpandagain dehydrating --fllfl pulp for preservation.

l. the herein described process of recovertau-nae from sugar cane. which(3011- partially extracting the juice from in re-filly ut cane andtreating the cane imam; i0 priernit in a condition in which I and itssucrom extracted :2 a :-i1i:.u';'ili1t period of time.

herein described process of extract- (wl'i an sugar cane. which conshfsr extracting the juice from the 1;: ace. drying and suhsequehlly' cremaimlcr (it the nut-roar; from l l l l l i l each. by addressing theCommissioner of Patents, Magical). I.

1 1 ital} patent may in: e ruined or M.

(5. The herein described prccec; for ex w iting SUCTOaQ from sugar illltwhich cons'nte in partially extracting the juice from the cane by theusual i'nechaulcal applimices. drying and storing the cane residue andsubsequently extracting the remainder t the sucrose from the caneresidue by the dill'u- .sion process.

T. The herein described process of extracting sucrose from sugar cane,which cone is in extracting approximately 50% of the juices contained inthe cane when cut, drying and storing the cane residue for future useand extracting at a subsequent time the remainder of the sucroee fromthe cane residue.

As a new article of manufacture, a sugar-producing .materi'al, composedof a vegetable residue from which a partof the original juice has beenextracted, dried and in condition to withstand deterioration ordecomposition.

9. As a new article of manufacture, a. v ngar-producing materialcomposed of a vegetable reeidue from which the original uice has beenpartially expressed; dried and treated so as to he indefinitelypreserved.

.10. As a new article of manufacture a sugar-producing material composedof cane residue from which the original juice has heenpartially-extracted, dried, andtreated so as to preserve the sucrosetherein in con- ;diticn for recovery.

Lotus Gii'rI-IMANN.

Witnesses; V

Erma GATHMANN,

GEO. M. COPENHAVER.

